Nearly half of London hospital workers yet to be offered Covid vaccine, survey finds

Nearly half of London’s ambulance and hospital workers – including nurses, porters and cleaners - have yet to be offered a Covid-19 vaccine, a new study suggests.

A survey conducted by the GMB Union found that 43 per cent of its members in London hospitals and trusts were still waiting to be offered a vaccine as of Monday 11 January.

This included ambulance workers, cleaners, porters, administrative NHS staff and even frontline nurses.

As hospitalisations and deaths continue to surge – pushing the NHS to the brink in parts of the capital and South East England – 58 per cent of the 365 respondents said they did not feel safe at work.

Last week, a “major incident” was declared in London due to the pressure of Covid-19 on the city’s health and emergency services.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said London’s hospitals were “at risk of being overwhelmed”, with beds likely to run out within the next two weeks unless the spread of the virus slows dramatically.

All NHS health and social care staff are to be offered a Covid vaccine as an “immediate” and “critical” priority, NHS England has said, amid growing anxiety from frontline workers and concerns over absence rates.

As the demand for patient care intensifies on a daily basis, the NHS has been forced to contend with high levels of Covid-related absences among its workforce.

Last week, The Independent revealed that the virus accounted for almost half of all staff absences – 46,378 out of a total of 95,452 – with the figure as high as 58 per cent in London and the southeast.

The government has been urged to widen its vaccination programme and provide even coverage to all NHS staff, regardless of whether or not they are patient-facing.

Labour MP and shadow health minister Justin Madders told The Independent: “It is shocking that so many of those who are most likely to come into contact with Covid patients on the NHS frontline have yet to be offered the vaccine. 

“Protecting the NHS means protecting its staff as well so it’s about time they all received the vaccination. Daily updates on supplies for NHS staff and the numbers vaccinated are needed so we can measures government promises against reality.”

Lola McEvoy, GMB’s London NHS organiser, warned that there was “a disconnect between what the government is saying publicly and the reality for our hospital members on the ground.”

“They are at breaking point with this new strain and for so many to have not even been invited to be vaccinated with the first jab casts yet another shadow of doubt on the government’s ability to protect those risking their lives every day on the frontline,” she told The Independent.

“The data on occupational vaccination is urgently needed so GMB Union can support the rollout and make sure our members get what they’ve been promised time and again – proper protection from this deadly virus.”

The GMB survey also found that a further 16 per cent of its members haven’t received the vaccine but are booked in for an appointment.

The latest government data shows that 2,639,309 people in the UK have received a first vaccine dose, as of 12 January.

NHS England has also provided a regional breakdown of vaccinations among over-80s. The North East and Yorkshire is currently leading the way, having administered a first dose to 46 per cent of its over-80s population. London has one of the lowest rates, at 31 per cent.

"I am hugely concerned that Londoners have received only a 10th of the vaccines that have been given across the country,” Mr Khan said on Thursday. The capital makes up roughly 16 per cent of England’s total population.

"The situation in London is critical with rates of the virus extremely high, which is why it's so important that vulnerable Londoners are given access to the vaccine as soon as possible," he added.

The government has yet to say how many NHS staff – which amounts to roughly 1.21 million people in the UK – have been inoculated. NHS England told The Independent that it does not currently have that data to share, but is aiming to vaccinate almost all staff by mid-February.

Helga Pile, deputy head of the trade union group UNISON, insisted that “the vaccine should be offered to all healthcare staff as soon as possible.”

“That must include workers such as cleaners, caterers and porters as well as clinical staff,” she told The Independent. “Where there are spare supplies, they should be offered to high-risk healthcare staff according to risk assessments carried out by employers.”

A spokesperson for the NHS in London said: “The NHS coronavirus vaccination programme, the biggest in the health service’s history, has got off to a strong start with a quarter of a million Londoners receiving their first vaccination against Covid, giving significant protection to those most at risk from the virus.  

“London is getting its fair share of vaccine supply for the priority groups we have to vaccinate by mid-February. We have more than one hundred vaccination sites up and running across London, including the NHS Covid-19 Vaccination Centre in the ExCeL London, and more are opening all the time.” 

NHS England has meanwhile ordered a rapid acceleration of care home vaccinations following a rise in residential outbreaks and deaths.

GPs have been instructed to complete all care home vaccinations by the end of this week “wherever possible”, or by 24 January at the latest. The government’s original target was the end of the month.

New figures show 1,200 care residents died from Covid-19 in England in the first week of January – rates that have not been seen since May, sparking concern that the care home sector could once again find itself devastated by the virus amid the ongoing third wave.